Dear Elijah,

Happy double-digit day! What a decade it has been, and it’s crazy to think of life before you. The last ten years have been a delight, even the times you drove me crazy! You’ve been a light in our family and a breath of fresh air. Sadly, this birthday was like your last birthday in that you were pretty sick. Our plans to go to Explora and play with cousins kind of went out the window. I guess that’s the reality of a winter birthday. Hopefully the next birthday will be better!

This year you’ve seen some changes. For one, you now have glasses! When I took you to the doctor for an annual checkup you were flagged at the visual screening. You also mentioned having a hard time seeing the board. After seeing an optometrist (and deciding against glasses), your dad took you months later and ended up buying you glasses. You love them! In addition to glasses you are getting braces really soon. Hopefully by the next birthday letter they will be close to coming off.

There are some things that haven’t changed all that much. For one, I mentioned I’ve been buying shoes for you constantly, but recently I noticed I haven’t bought shoes for you since your last school year, and you still fit in them well. Checking your height, there hasn’t been a lot of change there. I’m sure you will be seeing a lot of growth soon, especially when you get to your brother’s current age (he really shot up). Your favorite foods are still very much the same (cereal, chocolate, crepes), but you’ve gotten more adventurous with food, which is really nice!

 

You are currently in 4^th grade and seem to really enjoy it! Your teacher likes to challenge you, and you have GT on top of that. You’ve been very responsible in doing your homework, which has been a blessing. I haven’t worried about you in this regard, and I appreciate how responsible you are. Outside of school, you are still taking piano and recently played in the Primary Program at church. You are currently a child brown belt in kung fu, and we still go a couple times a week to practice. 

Although you have a lot of the same interests as before (Legos, video games, reading), you’ve become even more obsessed with one thing: frilled lizards! You were a frilled lizard for Halloween (again), had another frilled lizard cake, draw them all the time, read and write books about them, and overall just obsess over them. It’s really cute, but it’s hard to find frilled lizard items so at times we have to get creative. I wonder if the obsession will be just as strong or stronger next year!

You still like to read all the time, but your choice of reading has led more to just Dog Man. You have written a few stories as well, including your Norbert Story, and continue to channel your creativity that way. You are very patient with your siblings and their interests and give them your time and attention. Sometimes they will do the same, but I know you can get frustrated with them when they don’t show the same interest in something you worked hard to create (like a game or scavenger hunt). You are a good brother (except for some teasing here and there) and I appreciate your patience and honesty. It’s been so helpful to have such a responsible and trustworthy boy.

I am going to call it good, though there is so much more to say, but I want to let you know how proud I am of you and the person you have become. I hope you continue to work hard in school, be a peacemaker, and be the wonderful boy you are. Best of luck with the coming year, between braces, the last year in primary and elementary school, and being a part of our crazy family. We love you so much!

Love,

Mom

December 2023

Seeing that I am almost 2(!) years behind on the blog, I thought I would finish 2023. I’m afraid I’ll forget too much if I procrastinate much more. Onto December!

 

Eden had her Christmas dance recital. We were asked to stay to the end as a special guest would come, but it wasn’t worth it, honestly. There are so many cheer groups and sound problems. Oh well!

Santa!!!

The only two tiny ballerinas who stayed til the end.

Then Eden passed out after getting home!

Grandma Kartchner gifted all the kids advent calendars with each of their interests! I think it was fun for them to open their own calendars with their own interests.

Joseph got a magic calendar.

Eden got a gem painting advent calendar.

Eli got a Lego calendar.

Noah got a playdoh calendar.

We decorated cookies as usual for the holidays.

 

A cute little backdrop at DQ!

Timber Ridge ward had their very last Christmas party (although none of us really knew it at the time). It was Elf-themed with different activities in different classrooms.

The gym where Christmas dinner was held.

The Primary (me) had a snowman building station. 

I found these snowman parts on Amazon and made my own dough.

Each of the kids got a photo with Santa, though Eli was pretty sick and laid on the couch almost the whole time. Santa was super nice in coming to take a picture with him in the foyer.

There was also snowball throwing.

Reindeer ring toss.

And a backdrop to take photos with.

Seaworld is always fun to go around Christmas time. They do a great job at decorating and have different activities and shows. Here is a dump of some of the photos.

Today was the day they unveiled the Aldabra tortoise exhibit. They are the second largest tortoise in the world.

They had a new to us show called the Greatest Story Never Told. It starred the animals of the Nativity Story and had puppets represent them. They then brought the real animals at the end of the performance!

This December was special because Elijah turned 8! We took his birthday photoshoot at the temple.

Eli wanted a Legend of Zelda Cake so I took a store bakery cake and added all the symbols from the game.

Naturally Eli got Legos for his birthday. 

Christmas Eve tradition: opening pajamas!

Lastly, Christmas morning. We contained a special surprise from Joseph. A snake! And not just any snake, a hognose snake. He was named Hoggy (on brand for our kids). He has now gotten frogs, a fish, and a snake for Christmas.

Noah got a truck to ride.

Eden got more stuffies to add to her massive collection.

More Legos!!

Hiss!

It was a pretty exciting December. The worst part though? We got our first bout of lice! Joseph was complaining of his head itching beginning of December but I couldn’t find anything. Then Eli got an itchy head. Then during the Messiah performance I had a really itchy scalp. I didn’t want to believe it, but it was becoming apparent. Then during church the next day Sam said he found a bug in Noah’s hair. I pulled up a picture of a louse and it was confirmed 😱. I wanted to leave right there and then but Sam made us wait through Sacrament meeting. It was torturous. I saw a bug weave in and out through Eden’s hair, it was so gross. Then I let my counselors know (I was the Primary President) and we left to go to Walgreens to get all the lice removing things we could find. We treated ourselves with two kinds of treatments and took a fine comb and picked through everyone’s hair. We washed all bedding, vacuumed every surface, and quarantined all the stuffed animals. It was awful! A few days later we retreated and thought that was that. I figured any itchiness was residual and would go away. Then during a prayer one night I itched my scalp and a louse got stuck in my finger nail. AGH! None of the treatments worked, so I called my doctor and got an emergency prescription for Spinosad and treated everyone again. We also cut all the boys’ hair really short. And we had to rewash everything again. The worst part was trying to get rid of lice than the lice itself. Luckily Spinosad did the trick and we were lice free! Now I am good at spotting nits and can tell if it’s a nit or just dandruff. Any time I see one of my kids itching their scalp I get nervous!

Anyway, next up is our end of year Albuquerque trip!